


Inauguration

by Client327



Category: Ride or Die (Visual Novel)
Genre: Blood, Fighting, Gen, Language, Police Chase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25879651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Client327/pseuds/Client327
Summary: What was Ximena up to before MPC?
Kudos: 1
Collections: Ride or Die Appreciation Week





	Inauguration

Ximena pushed herself off the warm ground and felt every bone pop and crack under the effort. The blood that had accumulated in her mouth during the impact freely dripped from her split lips and covered her tape-wrapped fingers. Her vision blurred, frantically attempting to stop seeing everything in doubles. It made her nauseous. 

She shook her head and picked a person in the crowd to focus on to help orient herself as she stood on trembling legs. By the way the dark haired man shifted at the sight of her, she could deduce that she must look pretty disturbing at the moment, but he held her gaze nonetheless. He looked on with an intense stare that bordered on invasive.

The circle of onlookers cheered raucously as Ximena got to her feet and maneuvered her jaw tentatively to judge the extent of the damage; it would be fine. A cool night breeze blew through her hair and did wonders in waking her senses back up. Flexed fingers, rolled shoulders, stretched arms and she was ready to finish this. 

She pivoted on her heels to face her opponent once again. She was several inches shorter than her (most women were), but her obvious professional training was proving hard to overcome. However, there was a reason why everyone in this crowd was cheering for Ximena, they always cheered for her because she always won. 

Hurting people was never her goal. In fact, she always tried to end bouts as quickly as possible, which was often achieved by one solid punch from her muscle bound arms. Her opponent tonight must have watched her fight before because she was an expert on evading Ximena’s fists at all costs. 

The frustrating lack of contact was pushing her to a dark place that she never wanted to go, a place that she came to these fights to avoid, ironically enough. But here she was, anger bubbling to the surface, pushing her to lose control, making her see red instead of the human being standing in front of her.

She lurched forward faster than her body would appear capable of and grabbed the woman by the shoulder so tightly that she winced under the pressure. Ximena reared her fist back and thrust it forward before the smaller woman could react, before the crowd could react. She felt the bone in her opponent’s nose crush under the impact. She threw her furiously to the ground by the grip that she still maintained on her shoulder. 

The woman would have crumbled to the ground on her own, but even as Ximena fell into a straddle over her body she wasn’t registering her apparent unconsciousness. All she saw was an inability to come out on top; something she took very personal after the shitty hand she had been dealt in life. There was always something, someone, or even herself keeping her from succeeding in life. Here, in this moment, she would turn into the beastly woman that people expected someone of her stature and appearance to be; characteristics that were so far removed from her own personality that was never given a chance to shine. A perception that had been a stumbling block her whole life.

She pulled back her bloodied and crooked-knuckle fist once more, fighting her demons more than this woman beneath her, when the sound of sirens broke through the shouts of the crowd. In an instant, everyone began to scatter. Raids on these underground fighting rings were commonplace these days, and the organization was finding it harder and harder to find places to hold bouts. People darted in every direction into the thick crops that surrounded the clearing that they used for fights until this very moment. 

Ximena stood quickly from her position on the ground, her heart pounding from the panic of the situation. She couldn’t afford another arrest. Her skin was covered in sweat, blood plastered her hair around her face; she looked around for a moment for any semblance of which direction her car could be in. There was none. She took one hurried step from where she was standing before remembering the woman she had knocked out cold on the ground.

The sounds of cops clashing with those fleeing the scene began to fill the air and Ximena knew she was running out of time. She thought about running, but knew that she didn’t have it in her to abandon her opponent. Kneeling down beside her, she sat her up in her arms and tapped her face frantically.

“Hey.” She shook her gently, trying to coax her into consciousness with no luck. The action around her was growing louder, closer, and she was beginning to lose her battle with the panic. “HEY!” She shouted as loud as she dared while slapping her firmly across the face.

The other woman blinked her eyes open, they danced wildly around trying to piece together her surroundings. 

“I lost?” She was blinking forcefully, her eyebrows furrowed and she attempted to sit straight up but fell back with a wince of pain.

“Least of our problems right now, sweetie. We’ve got heat and need to get out of here. Can you walk?” She kept her gaze locked on the perimeter, willing no one to find them. 

“Uh...” she sat up more gently this time and tested her head with a gentle tilt from side to side. “I may...I may need some help, but I can.”

Ximena simply nodded and stood, offering a hand to the woman at her feet. Once she was up, she slung an arm around Ximena’s waist to steady herself and the two hobbled to the edge of the clearing that was the most quiet. Affording herself one last moment to breath before entering a blind situation, she readjusted her grip on the woman and pulled her along into the crops.

They ran as quickly as their situation allowed through the thick rows of crops and in a direction that Ximena hoped would come out near her car. They changed direction from time to time when the sounds of arrest came too close for comfort. She didn’t feel like they were getting anywhere and a feeling of panic began to rise in her chest. Her wounds were beginning to sting, the rush of adrenaline brought on by the fight was wearing off quickly and made it all the more difficult to be this woman’s crutch. 

A struggle broke out directly to her right and Ximena pivoted hard to the left and immediately collided with a man who was running in her direction. The impact sent her toppling to the ground clumsily tangling limbs with her counterpart. 

She immediately went on the defense before locking eyes with the dark haired man from the earlier crowd. He stared at her with the same intensity as before, but was also keeping a careful eye on their surroundings. Without a word he held a hand out to her and helped them both up.

“Thanks.” Ximena eyed him cautiously as she repositioned the other woman at her side.

“Let me help you.” He didn’t wait for a response before taking up on the opposite side of the woman. 

She couldn’t afford the time to argue or even question him in the moment so the three of them continued through the thick until finally coming to the edge of the field. Ximena peered cautiously out towards the adjoining street. They were in the clear and her car wasn’t far. 

“We’ve got it from here.” She took a step away from the man, taking the woman in her care with her. “Thanks.”

“I need a ride out of here. Could you oblige?” It was barely a question and felt like an expectation.

Ximena scoffed. No one is nice for free, and she should know that by now. “How do I know you’re not one of them?”

“You don’t.” He shrugged. 

Ximena cast an impatient glance around. They really didn’t have time for this. “If you fuck us over, it’s not going to be good for you, guy.”

He smiled wider than the situation should have allowed and gestured for Ximena to take the lead. They reached her car quickly and clambered in with haste. She barely got her key in the ignition before blue and red lights filled her rear view mirror.

“You better buckle up, hun. It’s about to get a little...intense.” She shifted her car into gear and peeled out of the space she had parked in sending dust flying behind her. 

“If you drive as well as you fight then I don’t think we have much to worry about.” He was calm, calmer than anyone should be at this moment.

“Who the hell are you?” She dared a glance in his direction before jerking the wheel into a last minute turn that would be difficult to follow.

He laughed gently maintaining his calm demeanor, “Tonight? I’m something of a talent scout.” He looked at her in a way that made clear she was the one he was scouting. “I think your particular set of skills could prove useful to my...business.”

“Yeah?” She struggled to converse and stay focused on evading the cops following too closely behind. “What kind of business scouts talent from underground fighting rings?”

“Why don’t we have a proper meeting once we’re in a less precarious position, Ximena.” 

He said her name with such familiarity that she barely registered it as odd at first. But she didn’t fight under her real name and had never met this man before. It was definitely odd. If their freedom didn’t depend on her focus right now she might have questioned him more on what he knows and how he knows it.

“What the fuck, man? Who are you??” Her voice was more worried than anything.

“You can call me Kaneko.”

**Author's Note:**

> PB owns all of this. For @rodappreciationweek I was going to write this for last RoDAW, but didn’t get around to it. It was basically born out of the questions “What was Ximena recruited for specifically?” and “How was Ximena recruited?”


End file.
